Philadelphia Art News Blog by DoN Brewer

Monthly Archives: March 2018

The Bridge, Field Guide for the Female

Magazine and Blog by Aubrey Fink

Hi!

I was skimming your website today and realized… hey! I have something they might be interested in!

I am a junior graphic design major at the University of the Arts. Last year, I received a grant from the Corzo Center for the Creative Economy to create a ~new~ kind of women’s magazine. Jump cut to now… Issue No. 1 has been published! The Bridge Magazine features 17 original articles written by everyday women on topics like international breakups, uncomfortable conversations with your gyno, how to tell your boss that you are pregnant, first loves, and felony convictions.

This is a small project that was completed as a love letter to the amazing women I know, with the hopes of growing that circle, if even by a little bit. I partnered with Girls Inc. of Greater Philadelphia, with 25% of the proceeds benefiting their incredible programming for young women.

It would mean the world if you would consider highlighting the project on your website. I think your readers would be interested in the story of a project that is giving local women a platform to share their experiences. Thank you for your consideration! – Aubrey Fink

About The Bridge, Field Guide for the Female

I had the idea for this project after realizing how little I was getting from the articles in women’s magazines. I could get better advice on life, love, and work from my dog… he is a REALLY good boy. I recognized that I was getting incredible advice from the women in my family because they actually have my best interest at heart. There’s a level of love, kindness, and realness in their wisdom. They are the ones who get real with me about how to deal with the three luscious black hairs that grow out of my chin. I needed a way to collect and revisit the great advice I was receiving from the wise women around me. Hence, The Bridge was born.

About Girls, Inc.

In partnership with schools and at Girls Inc. centers, we focus on the development of the whole girl. She learns to value herself, take risks, and discover and develop her inherent strengths. The combination of long-lasting mentoring relationships, a pro-girl environment, and research-based programming equips girls to navigate gender, economic, and social barriers, and grow up healthy, educated, and independent. Informed by girls and their families, we also advocate for legislation and policies to increase opportunities and rights for all girls.

19th Century Photographs for Painters from the collection of Don Camera

19th-Century Nature Studies — from the Collection of Don Camera BFA ‘77Portraits of Photographers — from the Collection of Don Camera BFA ‘77

University of the Arts, President’s Gallery and Conference Room, through April 3rd, 2018, Hamilton Hall, 320 South Broad St., 1st and Ground Floors (Directions)

Video by John Thornton Films

“My friend the photographer and collector Don Camera has an exhibit at the University of the Arts. We get to see a set of 19th century photographs made expressly for painters to use as reference material. The makers were businessmen hustling to make a living. But Don makes the case for them being “the first generation of serious art photographers.” – John Thornton

Spring’s in the Air, Lois Schlachter, Jed Williams Gallery

JED WILLIAMS GALLERY is excited to celebrate the coming of Spring with its new exhibit, a solo showcase of painter Lois Schlachter. Let’s bring Spring in, in style! With Lois Schlachter’s exuberant, colorful work dHer unique abstracts have a meticulously composed, “clean” feel to them, which goes hand in hand with a wonderful sense of compositional whimsy and a mellifluous, subtle color schemes. The distinctive geometric shapes set off eternally revolving fractal-like hues.

According to Lois Schlachter, “Her paintings at Jed Williams Gallery are examples of her love of geometric shapes and bold vibrant color. These pieces were created by letting her subconscious mind guide her hand. She works directly on the canvas, continually drawing throughout the painting process. The use of line and color help to navigate the viewer across the canvas providing an avenue to discover one fun spot after another.”

Travel Dreams, Lois Schlachter, acrylic on canvas

This painting is “Travel Dreams” and will be on display at Jed Williams Gallery. How do I do whatI do? I start by heavily coating the canvas. Then, whatever paint is left on my pallet from my previous painting I start applying it to the canvas. I am not really thinking about anything, I’m just having fun. It’s kind of like doodling. Sometimes I’ll splatter the paint and let it run. It is all very loose. Most of the time, I have no preconceived plan or idea. I allow my subconscious mind to wonder. I go to the part of myself that is the child, uninhibited and painting to please myself. Sometimes I get lucky and it starts to look like something. – Lois Schlachter

Feathered Friends, Lois Schlachter, acrylic on canvas

Guardian Angels, Lois Schlachter, acrylic on canvas

This piece is “Guardian Angels”. With all three paintings, early on, they started to look like something. At this point, it’s time to get serious and I really start to work the line. The more that I work in a geometric format, the more I understand that shapes and lines are related and it is up to me to find that relationship. It’s time to work the color, balance the forms, study the positive and negative spaces and get a rhythm going. Depending on the size of the piece, I have likely been working for a few weeks and there are many more weeks of work ahead. – Lois Schlachter

About Lois Schlachter

Lois Schlachter is a graduate of The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and Philadelphia College of Art now the University of the Arts. She is a prolific painter working primarily in acrylic and considers herself as an Abstract Expressionist. Previous exhibitions include GoggleWorks’ “Artists Equity” Show (Reading, PA, 2013). In 2014 she received four Special Recognition Awards in the “16th Annual Contemporary Art Juried Online International Art Exhibition” hosted by Upstream People Gallery.

About Jed Williams Gallery

Jed Williams Gallery is a unique art space owned and operated since 2010 by artist Jed Williams. In it Jed Williams showcases up and coming and inspiring artists from the local area including Jed Williams himself, along with providing a look into the workings of an actual artist studio. The gallery shows a variety of thoughtful, cutting edge works in various media with a focus on abstract painting and mixed medium.

Jed Williams Gallery also involves the community through art workshops, as well as local music and fashion talents with free music events, parties, trunk shows. Jed Williams Gallery is part of the revitalization of Bainbridge St., just one block south of South St. It aims to contribute to the vitality and unique, fun spirit of Bainbridge St. and the Queen Village/Bella Vista neighborhood.

Jed Williams Gallery has shown local talents such as Kevin Broad, Lorraine Glessner, Dennis Flynn, David Stanley Aponte, and more. The gallery has also collaborated with social/art non-profit organizations such as Philly Stewards, InLiquid, Project HOME, and Art Sphere, Inc., other art venues such as the Hex Factory, and curators such as Sean Stoops and Anna Cherniahivsky.

Thank you to Lois Schlachter and Jed Williams for the content of this post.

Sacred Lands

New sculptural works by Drew Leshko

Exhibition Dates: March 23rd – May 19th, 2018

Opening Reception: March 23rd, 2018 5:30 – 10:00pm

Paradigm Gallery is pleased to present Sacred Lands an exhibition of new sculptural works by the artist Drew Leshko opening March 23rd, 2018 and remaining on view through May 19th, 2018. The exhibition’s title is a reference to Leshko’s Philadelphia neighborhood of Fishtown and its ancestral roots as the home to the indigenous Lenni-Lenape. For more than a decade Leshko painstakingly documented the rapid re-development occurring in his hometown of Philadelphia specifically the historical neighborhood of Fishtown. Although Leshko’s works are sculptural by nature, he largely considers himself a documentarian, his sculptures echoing the work of legendary documentary photographers Gordon Parks and Bernd and Hilla Becher.

Leshko is particularly attracted to overlooked and oft-neglected sites, the unremarkable
buildings which will not be preserved. With past works, Leshko’s been drawn to the
once-thriving churches that have closed their doors as parishioners have been forced to
relocate, and the small local businesses with their classical designs which are now juxtaposed
with modern slapdash renovations, as well as the facades and machines of yesteryear. His
models splendidly isolate anachronistic architecture, encouraging the viewer to consider history
through a unique prism.

For Sacred Lands, Leshko replicates the Kensington Soup Society, a soup kitchen which
opened in 1844 and closed in 2008; Penn Treaty Metals, a metal recycling business spanning
three generations, the name of which references William Penn’s Treaty with the Native Lenape
in 1683; and the Edward Corner Marine Merchandise Warehouse, with its hand-painted signs
providing a physical reminder of Fishtown’s waterfront history. Leshko’s sculptures will be
complemented by his small-scale reproductions of local signage (for bars, restaurants, VFW
halls, and even strip clubs), as well as vintage photographs of historical buildings courtesy of the
Philadelphia City Archives.

Leshko’s 1:12 dollhouse scale replicas are meticulously crafted, requiring 120 to 160 studio
hours to create. He begins each sculpture working from a single photograph as an image
reference, but then will discard the photograph in mid-process, relying on memory to complete
the piece. His miniatures act as singular physical documents of the buildings and businesses
which are sadly proving unsustainable. Leshko’s ongoing examination of gentrification and
historical preservation (or lack thereof), asks the timely question “in a soon-to-be-forgotten
America, what is worth preserving?”.

About Drew Leshko

Drew Leshko is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based artist. Working from observation and
photographs, the artist painstakingly recreates everything from building facades to campers at a scale which may be familiar to some viewers as standard dollhouse spec; the treatment to
Leshko’s work is widely different. The minute detail of his work includes city detritus such as
dumpsters and pallets, which are commentary of the ideas of what is worth preserving.
Accumulations of typically overlooked details and minutiae like acid rain deposits and rust
become beautiful adornments.

Leshko’s work has been exhibited in galleries, and museums both nationally and internationally.
His work is included in permanent collections including the Dean Collection (NYC), West Collection (Philadelphia), Iron State Development’s corporate collection (Hoboken), Urban Nation Museum (Berlin), and many private collections throughout the world.

About Paradigm Gallery

Established February 2010, Paradigm Gallery + Studio started as a project between
co-founders and curators, Jason Chen and Sara McCorriston, to create a space to make
artwork, exhibit the work of their peers, and invite the members of the local community to make their own artwork in a welcoming gallery setting. Over the years, Paradigm Gallery + Studio has become a gallery of diverse contemporary artwork from around the world, while maintaining a focus on Philadelphia artists.

ELEMENTOS

Tierra, Aire, Fuego, and Agua by Yehoshua Villarreal I

WHAT: Philadelphia’s leading Latin American Art gallery is premiering a new
series of paintings by award-winning artist Yehoshua Villarreal I . Elementos |Tierra, Aire, Fuego, and Agua explores the subjects of earth, air, fire, and water in
Villarreal’s unique style of figurative images and structural compositions which
complement and complete each other in this series.

Yehoshua Villarreal I was born in Venezuela and moved to Miami in 1996.
Villarreal’s paintings are in museums, private and corporate collections
and he exhibits internationally.

“Yehoshua’s work is an exercise in provocative juxtaposition – the
imaginative and allegorical subjects challenge the precision and control of
his techniques,” shared RACSO Gallery owner Oscar Villamil.

ABOUT RACSO ART GALLERY | www.racsogallery.artRACSO Art Gallery exclusively represents Latin American artists. Dealing in
emerging local and international contemporary Latin American art as well as the
‘Modern Masters’ of Latin American art including Botero and Villegas. Located at
the gateway to East Passyunk Avenue in the heart of South Philadelphia,
collectors can experience a range of works including paintings, drawings, prints,
sculpture, and photography. RACSO Art Gallery celebrates the beauty of the Latin
American art spirit with rotating exhibitions throughout the year.